Thought I'd stop in at the top of the page to say Hi. I live about half way on the East coast of Vancouver Island where we are said to have a Mediterranean-like climate. Have been a gardener since forever but owned my own fork for the first time in 1968, a gift from my English Mother-in-law (x), herself a gardener of many years then, but I was off to a good start with my own mother's fancy for growing things in her younger years. I well remember hoping that no one would know that the embarrassing smell of doo-doo was coming from the soles of my runners, having had the privilege of being at home when the manure was delivered at lunch time, which of course in turn, gave me the hurried joy of spreading it out on mom's back veggie garden before rushing back to school in Toronto. That was elementary school tho I do not recall the grade, so, a long time indeed! And the carrots and poppy seeds.....mmmmm The garden was even good for an escape from doom once, as when I came home late as a teen I went to the garden and watered mom's asters. When I was discovered there doing that, no one questioned me about time. Whew! Dad was tough; he used a push mower. Me too, then. Well, now I am thought to be a Jungle Queen by one neighbour and another was going to protest my requiring a Giant Sequoia tree to be cut down in order to save my house last year. Gosh ! Talk about a tight squeeze! I like to provide a natural sort of setting for the birds who come to bathe and feed all winter long and then the hummies, well, they visit even thru Dec/Jan here & I have photos & can prove it! Yes, that's what I like to do best, along with gardening, is to film the birds going about their day in my yard. Hummingbird feeders do not exist in my yard unless they are growing flowers and I grow few flowers for any other reason, well, except for a few roses here & there. I really have only a tiny lot ! In between then and now I have worked in the greenhouse industry on the mainland in a small way many years ago with the owners of carnations, bedding plants, mums, tropicals, hydroponic tomatoes but, not for a long time. Had figs this year from a pair of trees I planted a few short years ago, plums from a tree shoot I took when I moved here 20 yrs ago, and have been picking apples from the 4 varieties tree and drying them for winter & Xmas as the kids remember them fondly from childhood as they do the canned cherries they used to steal. I am semi/retired and home enough to be able to return to some of the old ways of preserving the fruits of the season. I have always preferred to get produce as fresh as possible with the least additives. Who knows what the sum total of all those different chems we ingest will ultimately do to our systems? I suffer from a few sensitivities, but not when I am in my garden. Why does it always feel like time stolen for secret pleasure when I am there? Yet, compelled to be there I am ! Good Morning ! The day is dawning nicely for this weather-head, up so early today. Dana09, Dana, D ;)
Welcome Dana. Like you, I'm also from the east side of the Island. Perhaps we'll compare notes along the way here. Cheers, LPN (Barrie).
Thanks for the welcomes Barrie & Jen, from both near and far ! Jen, what a fabulous find in a farmer's field this week! So, it pays to muck about in the dirt sometimes doesn't it? I think our climate is fairly similar Jen Barrie, I could ask,what died and what recovered after last year's winter? Any surprises? Escalonia and Privet both died apparently horrible deaths in the snows, ice and prolonged cold last year and both are now resurrected! My passion vine died back for the third time in 20 yrs and has returned in its original spot from roots and has started blooming since the end of August. I thought that this time perhaps it was a gonner for sure. Armandii also died & has returned new vines. Aren't they tough! Roses which are supposed to be tough varied in their reaction tho none died back completely. Did I see palms in your photo in the post a pic thread? I may have seen them live if visible from the road! How did they fare over winter? I put one next door last year and so far, so good, thru snow and now drought. The endless summer hey? Must good for riding tho! Enjoy. D
Yes Dana there where some losses after last winter. Most notably for me was a fine example of Butia capitata (Pindo palm), which I had for 10 years. It appeared to have weathered the worst but slowly began to die in April. All of my Trachycarpus forunei (Windmill palm) did well. Inexplicably a well established Fatsia japonica took a heavy hit, rebounding nicely this spring and summer. Must've been a week specimen as all the others around here seemed fine. Here's one of the last pics I took of my Pindo palm in January -09.
Aww Barrie, How sad, the passing of our faves in these bad years. I once had the silver, ordinary, round leaved eucalyptus grow to about 15'. Then we had a winter where it got frozen with rain and bent down to the ground with the weight of it all so I propped it up again only to have it flop to the ground bent over the fence the other way LOL! Need I say it died back to the ground that year! They do come back tho and this way stay to a manageable size in a small garden. Same with a Bay Laurel that had grown way beyond my wildest imagining. I had thought that they needed tender care to be able to survive here at all and well...., no! It got quite large for its space too but last winter 1 of the 2 trunks it had died back - the larger one so the plant is back to a reasonable size for its space too. Not root pruning it this year. The palm tho will not come back will it, from the base??? Is the dead one still standing? How did you come by your interest in growing palms outdoors here? I see them in yards with growing frequency over the years, some quite large (for here). We're so border-line a climate that it is tempting to try some of the more tender plants. I see too that you have a euphorbia in the foreground and is that another sort in behind it? I don't have much empty space in my beds except in the veggie patch occasionally. Seems to just leave working room for other people's cats! Later, D
No ... it's dead. At this point it's still standing, brown and crispy. I'll be removing it in October most likely. In the very early 80's I was given the task of looking after some house plants. I bought reference material (no home computers back then) and soon discovered after reading some of the selections, that there where some things worth trying. My interest just evolved from that point. Cheers, Barrie.
How innocently these insidious compulsions begin! LOL Yes, I left my dead eucalypt for quite a while as an ornament too, the leaves retaining their fragrance a long time after. D
